“God’s Justice and Faithfulness” (Malachi 2:17–3:5)

“God’s Justice and Faithfulness” (Malachi 2:17–3:5)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, July 21, 2019

Malachi 2:17–3:5 (NIV)

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

3 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

1. Questioning the administration of God’s justice is presumptuous and wearisome to God (2:17).

2. Instead of questioning, we should trust in the justice of God and wait patiently for him; because, God will send his messenger, and he will send his Messiah—but in his own time (3:1).

a. The messenger (John the Baptist) will prepare the way for the Messiah (Jesus).
b. The Messiah (Jesus) is God and will come to his temple.

3. When the Messiah comes, he will come in judgment, and everyone will be accountable to him (3:2–5).

a. When the Messiah comes, he will judge them AND you.
b. The Messiah will purify his true people in preparation for the kingdom of God.
c. The Messiah will punish his false people in preparation for eternal judgment.

Main Idea: God is God, and the administration of his justice is completely within his sovereign will. When God does send his Messiah, he will judge everyone, and everything will be made right and just.